We started the day with gridlock at lock 20. The waterway has gotten very busy now. We had to wait our turn & were in the second group of the day. They really pack the boats in tight.
We're happy to see that the auto pilot is working properly and doesn't beep anymore. I almost miss hearing the beep. We went through 8 locks today, numbers 20-27 & traveled 14 miles. I can't believe it takes all day to travel 14 miles!
Lock 21 is the famous Peterborough Lift Lock. It really is quite impressive. It's the world's highest hydraulic lift lock. It's also the world's largest structure made out of unreinforced cement. It is a 65ft. vertical lift. When it opened in 1904, the lock was considered an engineering marvel. The hydraulic lift lock works like a simple balance beam scale. The boat enters a rectangular chamber shaped like a giant sheet-cake pan. Parallel to that chamber, but 65 feet up on a huge piston, is another chamber. There are 330,000 gallons of water that weigh 1,500 tons in each pan. When the upper chamber is filled with an extra foot of water the increased weight in the upper tank forces it to go down, while the lower tank rises on its piston. It doesn't matter how many boats are in each pan, because the boats displace their own weight. It was a fun ride.
Everyday that we travel the water becomes more clear. It's now easy to see the bottom & all the rocks just below the surface.
We stopped for the night at Young's Point Lock # 27
Gridlock at the first lock this morning
We had to wait for the second group
World's highest hydraulic lift lock
View from the top
Quite a crowd
Pretty narrow
Last lock of the day
Tourist trap! I didn't buy anything.
Sunrise at Young's Point
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